Mysterious Competition
by MavaricComet
Summary: This story takes place during a hypothetical second Chuunin exam for the main charaters. It shows the relations of five Original Characters with the main ones. Ch. 13 up! For all you people who keep asking I merged Naruto with Ino and Choiji's team.
1. It Begins

Action/ Adventure rated T for some violence and a little language in later chapters.

Story involves my Original Character and later two more (if I have time)

Legal stuff: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters also I would like to thank my friends abroad for helping to inspire me. Enjoy!

Summary: This is set during the second possible Chuunin Exam, you know the final part with the prelims and main matches that's about all I can say without ruining the surprise.

Please review I need feed back!

Mysterious Competition

"The first preliminary match for the Chuunin exam final test is Asano vs. Tenten."

"Let's go Tenten." Rock Lee shouted as the short Mickey Mouse haired ninja leapt down into the arena.

"Don't worry Lee I can handle Straight jacket boy over there no problem," the young weapons master shouted back.

"This is going to be easy. I could take her with my eyes closed." At this the bound boy started laughing at the seemingly inside joke.

"Asano, don't play with her to much. We want to get out of here as soon as possible." The man who spoke was unknown to Naruto but something about him seemed familiar.

"Fine. You take all the fun out of hurting people sometimes." Suddenly he jumped up over the railing on the edge of his part of the walkway and landed with a small thud on the ground below.

"Now that we're all here I think we can begin the fight. Begin." The instructor retreated away from the calm area in the middle of the battleground.

Tenten began the fight by pulling out one of her weapon scrolls and summoning a large wooden staff from it. She lunged forward and swung the staff at her opponent with a strength that seemed uncharacteristic of someone so small. Unfortunately her opponent was to fast and dodged the attack and sprung about15 feet away.

"That was unexpectedly close. It seems I shall have to end this in a different fashion than the one I had planned." The stranger, called Asano seemed to split in two and the edges of his body that defined his existence seemed to blur with speed. Naruto understood this from many hours of high speed training with Fuzzybrows.

"Fuzzybrows he's fast. Maybe faster than you."

"No Naruto you should know by now the difference between what your eyes tell you and reality. He is not really moving at all that is a genjutsu." Now that Naruto looked closer he could see that the now many speed copies were indeed fake.

"Very good Lee."

"Thank you Guy-sensei."

Out of the blue everyone was brought to their senses by a very loud crack that came from the middle of the arena. When Naruto looked to the source of the crack he could see dust settling and the figure of Asano with one leg resting on the top of a much shorter looking Tenten.

A medical team rushed in and Guy leapt down from the walkway to aid his now obviously wounded student.

The instructor now reappeared and Naruto wondered what was going to happen. "We will now take a short break to remove the wounded." By this time Asano was back at his post by his sensei's side. A moment later he walked up to Naruto and formally introduced himself.

"Hello, my name as you heard is Asano. I was ordered to come over here and make small talk."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What happened down there? One minute your genjutsu was twirling around Tenten and then your foot is smashed on her skull."

"I too would like to know what happened. I am Rock Lee Tenten's teammate. What did you do to her?"

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning. I assume you heard my little conversation with my sensei before the battle. Well, that was actually a distraction for the genjutsu to start."

"What! It started then? Not even Guy-sensei noticed it!"

"Yes, it is a carefully planned maneuver. I don't blame him for missing it." The young gennin stated matter-of-factly. "Anyway, that genjutsu allowed the illusion me to jump down to the arena and the real me to hide on the ceiling. The rest of the battle was a projected image except for Tenten's actions. But she played along nicely. When I heard you talking about noticing my illusion I knew I had to end it quickly. That is when I simply dropped from the ceiling and did a multi-rotational spin kick that landed on the girls head. In case you were wondering she'll be fine in 2 days with some back pain for a few months."

"Asano your headband slipped down over your eyes. It must have been during the spin kick. I'll fix it for you."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't touch that. And no. It is always like that. Another limitation, just like the jacket." Naruto swore that he saw a smile swiftly cross Asano's face.

"One quick question. How old are you that tour skills require such boundaries?" Lee inquired of the mysterious ninja before them.

"As of yesterday I am _10 1\2_ years old. But that is unimportant the next match is about to start. Something tells me that you are going to need to get ready Lee."

With that Asano calmly left Naruto and Lee's part of the walkway and the lottery like process of selecting the next match began.


	2. Between Matches

Between Matches

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to acknowledge the fact that I know I spelled Gai's name wrong in the first chapter. Expect a repost soon.

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"The next match will be between Rocklee and Kiba."

"This should be interesting. Two strong taijutsu users facing off. Kiba has his strong bond with Akamaru making their tag team style very formidable. Then again Fuzzybrows is very fast and he has the powerful Lotus to use as a last resort."

"My eyebrows aren't that big and you know it Naruto!"

"What ever you say Lee." Whether his eyebrows were big or not this is going to be an intense fight. Even if neither of them uses their ultimate moves the sheer skill of both combatants was going to make this battle close. Also there was a new threat to consider, Asano the young ninja from the Volcano village. Based upon the amazing strategy he used against Tenten he was at least as intelligent as Shikamaru. One thing was for sure no ordinary Gennin could come up with a strategy that could fool Gai-sensei.

Asano POV

"You didn't give away all the surprises did you Boy?"

"No sensei. I only told them enough to make them curious. I have a feeling not letting them know our true intentions just yet will serve to our advantage later. Oh, look the amusement is starting."

"Don't take them too lightly. You will be fighting the winner of this match."

"Who asked you Nauta? Besides, you haven't seen how absolutely lame these people are. They don't even have one tenth the strength that we have."

"Still we must consider what we have been taught. Even the weakest opponent has something to teach you if you look hard enough. In the case of your first opponent we might have to look really deep."

"I tried that already. You know what happened? I looked so deep that I passed straight through her and started looking at that kid in the orange jumpsuit. And when I looked at him I saw something interesting. So Sensei when were you going to tell us that the Kyuubi kid was here?"

"When you figured it out. Besides, since Nauta is the one who is going to face him it won't really matter. Isn't that right? Nauta stop staring at that girl."

"It's okay she doesn't see me."

"And she probably never will so concentrate."

"Yes Sensei."

While this was going on down in the arena something was going on that was very interesting. The one called Rocklee was removing the bands around his ankles to reveal 2 very large sets of weights. That explains why I didn't sense great speed from him. This is going to be more interesting that I had thought.

"Is that supposed to make me afraid Lee. You're taking off your weights. I'm scared now!" With all the sarcasm in his voice you would have to be a complete idiot to not notice it.

"Way to go Lee you've got him right where you want him and the match hasn't even started yet."

"You sure that's the Kyuubi kid sensei? He's pretty dumb."

"Barota don't let his intelligence fool you into thinking he's a poor ninja. Rumor has it that one of the Sannin is training him. Now pay attention you could learn something from this battle. That boy in the awful jumpsuit is the prized pupil of one of Konoha's best Jounin."

"The match will now begin. Ready go!"


	3. Death in the Family

Note: If anyone has either the clan names of all the non-created characters or the Japanese names for their techniques I will gladly repost with those included! Enjoy Ch. 3

Kiba vs. Rock Lee

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"Ready begin!"

"You were wrong Kiba."

"About what exactly Lee?"

"My taking off my weights wasn't about you feeling scared. It was about you feeling honored that I considered you a worthy enough opponent to do this immediately."

It seemed to Naruto that Kiba was taken a little aback by that comment and that is what Lee was waiting for. Lee sprung forward and performed a kick that came straight off the ground towards Kiba's face.

"Fuzzybrows is fast but Kiba is no slowpoke. He'll easily dodge that kick."

"Yes he will but unfortunately Kiba himself was not the target of that kick."

"When did you get here Neji? Did you go visit Tenten?"

"Yes I did. Lee was worried about her so I checked on her. That boy's assessment of her situation was quite accurate. Don't worry about her she'll be fine."

While this was going on, Neji's assessment of Lee's battle plan seemed to be accurate. Lee slowed his kicks enough for Kiba to dodge the attack but seeing as how Akamaru was still in Kiba's jacket he received the full force of the kick.

"Now for the big finish." Lee shouted as he began to unravel his arm bandages. Almost everyone in the arena knew what was coming. Including Kiba.

"Alright boy here we go." Kiba pulled a small bag out of his coat pocket which contained soldier pills. Giving one to himself and one to Akamaru, Kiba executed the seals for his ultimate combo move with Akamaru. "Let's go Akamaru. Dynamic Marking."

Akamaru jumped from his perch atop Kiba's head and spayed his "scent" all over the arena.

"Com'on Lee you only have a small window to execute the plan now."

"What plan is that Neji?"

"When the Hokage announced that the Chuunin exam was coming up again our team met to discuss strategies for possible opponents we had information on. One of those opponents was Kiba. We knew that when Akamaru performs his Dynamic Marking he is spinning to fast to dodge attacks but no one has taken advantage of this so far because one side affect of the technique is that usually the opponent gets sprayed in the eyes so all lee had to do was know it was coming to block it and execute the rest of the plan."

"Which is?" Naruto didn't need to ask as it was currently being enacted but to humor Naruto, and to boast about his own strategy, Neji talked as Lee did.

"First Lee must immobilize Kiba," this was accomplished with a hard kick to Kiba's face, "Then Lee must assume the position for the Lotus under the already airborne Akamaru." Lee pushed off of Kiba's face using the foot he had planted there simultaneously launching himself into the air alongside Akamaru and Kiba into the wall. Once there he used Akamaru's rotation to tightly wrap his arm bands around the startled dog." Finally he must execute the Lotus." This he did, spiraling downward in a fashion designed to make Akamaru receive most of the impact. When they made contact a large cloud of dust enveloped most of the arena and just outside that cloud Rock Lee had landed with a very worried expression on his face. When the smoke cleared everyone saw why. In the middle of the crater created by the Lotus's impact stood Kiba holding an unconscious Akamaru. Then all of a sudden he collapsed on the ground. No one but Asano and Lee heard it but Kiba whispered, "I swore nothing else would happen to you. I'm sorry."

End Note: What can I say I'm a dog person. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Conversation

"Lee that was pretty uber cruel." Everyone in the arena that was from Konoha was still in shock from the way that Rock Lee had beaten Kiba.

"The medical-nin said that he will probably live so I am okay with what I had to do." Apparently Lee's conscious disagreed with him because he was shaking all over his whole body. "I just wish the matches would continue." What went left unsaid that day was that Lee wished the matches would continue so that he could take his mind off of what he had done. He had nearly crippled a fellow ninja as had nearly been done to him by Gaara of the Dessert. Was he the same kind of monster deep down?

"The next match will begin in 10 minutes. Please take this time to relax." The instructor took a deep sigh as if to say, "As if anyone could relax after that beating."

"Lee."

"Naruto you surprised me. What is it?"

"I was just wondering what you're opinion was on those Volcano ninjas."

"Well if that one, Asano, is to be taken as an excellent judge of their talents then I'd say that we are in for quite a show when the other two fight given that Asano is the youngest."

"What about their teacher. I get an ominous feeling from him. Like I've encountered him before and it wasn't a pleasant time."

"I understand the ominous feeling but the Volcano Village is relatively new. Around the time the Sound Village was formed so I don't see where you could have seen him before."

"I know but that doesn't stop the feeling." Naruto looked off into the distance in the general direction of the giant screen on the wall that depicted the pairings of the preliminary matches. As if as an after thought to change the topic of conversation he noted," Hey the next match is starting."

True to his word Naruto was right the next match was being announced.

The official stepped up to the middle of the arena," The next match will be between Aburame Shino of Konoha and Aguuyh Barota of the Volcano Village."

"Now we should get a good idea of just how strong these guys are. No offense to Tenten but Shino is one of the stronger Gennin in Konoha."

"Yeah I guess that's true. After all he made it to the main matches of the last exam and I guess that it would make sense for all these guys to be at about the same level."

"True, but I get an odd feeling from that young one that faced Tenten."

"Neji I didn't realize that you were listening." As Naruto looked up to recognize Neji he saw the anguish in his face.

"Earlier after that ninja came up to talk I scanned him with my Byakugan and I found something interesting. While most chakra systems flow with a blue color to the eyes that can see them his was a different color. This alone would not have astonished me much because lots of things can influence chakra to be a different color. Even Naruto's chakra changes to be red when he uses the power of the 9 Tailed Fox, but his was black."

"As in like black black."

"As in jet black. In my studies with my sensei I found that different colors of chakra indicate different things, but in all my studies I had never heard of black chakra. This intrigued me so much that I scanned his entire team. The one with the large arms had purple, which indicates he has undergone chakra modification."

"Like the people of the Star Village."

"Yes. The other student had blue so I am uncertain of his status but one peculiar thing I did notice was that his chakra flowed in an irregular pattern making it hard for me to pick out his chakra points. The weirdest thing is that I could not see the chakra of the teacher. It was as if he had devised a way to hide it from me."

Authors note: Sorry for the short chapter I am just using it to build suspense for the much longer next one.

Who knows what will happen? Will someone die for sure next time?

(Hides behind desk as fans throw blunt objects)

Will Rock Lee continue to question his inner Good Gai?

(Fans begin to throw sharp objects)

Will my author's notes continue to get longer and cheesier?

(Fans stop throwing things and start to leave)

Well if you're going to be that way then maybe I'll just stick to writing the story!

(Fans return and burst into applause)


	5. The Strength of Many

"Ready begin." As the official said the words neither combatant moved.

"This is boring. Finish him already Barota."

"Patience Asano. Barota isn't as much of an up front fighter as most. He takes time to get going. That's why I was glad that your match was so short."

"Fine then. I'll take a nap. Wake me when it's over."

"You'll do no such thing. You know the rules. After all you designed them."

"You're right I did. That's why there's a bylaw in them saying that Barota's fights only have to be watched after 30 minutes. Good night."

"I told you not to let him write the rules. He's the only one stupid enough to write something like that in."

"You need to be quiet and watch. You haven't done anything yet so don't need to sleep. Plus remember you have a task to complete now."

Down below the combatants started to make their first moves.

Bugs flew from Shino's sleeves in his signature first move. Then something strange started to happen as the bugs neared his enemy. The closer they flew to this Barota the slower and more erratic their flight got. Soon the nearest bugs were completely swept up in a wind that didn't appear to be anywhere else but in the two foot radius around the foreign ninja the bugs had just entered.

"You people look flustered. Should I explain?"

At the sudden voice speaking behind him Naruto was surprised and reflexively pulled out a kunai as he turned to face the sneak. In one quick motion he flicked his wrist releasing the knife from his hand and reached down and grabbed another one from the holster on his left leg.

As he grasped the situation he looked at the young man sitting before him. He had well built arms like you get from heavy workouts. Also Naruto noticed that he was wearing a Volcano headband. His clothes were faded, black and ragged as if they had been washed roughly over and over again. Oddly though his skin was as white and smooth as ivory, even odder was the fact that he was resting the back of his head on Naruto's thrown kunai in a perfectly natural fashion not leaning at all to do so but just the right amount away from the wall to make that position comfortable. As if he had expected it and the kunai had passed directly through his head to get to its current position.

By now almost everyone on the side of the platform that the two boys were on was gathered round. Naruto no longer cared how the boy had gotten to his current position just that he was going to explain the mystery of the revolving insects to the people gathered.

"My teammate has an ability that allows him to temporarily control the air around him and he is currently using that to repel the insects that are being used against him."

"You said that he can temporarily move the air. How long does that last?"

"It will ware off in roughly 10 minutes. But I doubt that your friend down there will last that long."

"You greatly underestimate Shino. He is far more powerful and resourceful that he lets on." As he spoke these words Rock Lee shuddered internally, recalling his last encounter with someone who could subconsciously control an element and the striking resemblance that he was beginning to show to his brutality. After all it was one thing to create that plan but actually carrying it out was quite another. To Rock Lee Shino's victory meant much more than one more Konoha ninja through to the finals. It was to him a symbol of his assurance in the good guy pulling through. _"Come on Shino!"_

Down in the arena Barota made some very elaborate hand seals that didn't seem familiar to the other ninjas gathered.

"Hey, you from the Volcano Village! What were those hand seals he just made for?" Rock Lee didn't care that he was being rude. He just needed to know what was going on.

"I have a name you know. It's Nouta. Anyway Mr. Rudeguy did it look like this." The sitting boy made a symbol identical to the one made by the boy in the arena.

"Ya. I've never seen a symbol like that before."

"It is for one of Barota's most devastating techniques." At this all the eyes on the balcony turned arena ward and watched everything Nouta was saying unfold before them. "The technique is called 'Golem of the Four Elements' even though it only produces one being. It takes the element that is most abundant around it and forms a clone of Barota that acts as a mirror of him. When he moves forward so does it, if he moves left…"

"It moves right."

"Hinata don't interrupt him when he's talking."

"Sorry sir. Go on."

"Don't be. You were exactly right, and besides you don't have to take that from Mr. Rudeguy. Getting on with it the reason that it is so devastating is, well, just watch. I'm not very good at explaining things. So you said that your name is Hinata?"

Ignoring the gruffness of his informant Lee turned to the arena. Shino was currently attempting to fight off what appeared to be two Barotas, one made of flesh and bone while the other was a swirling mass of air and earth. Punches and kicks were both received and dished out as Shino deftly dodged the low kicks coming from both his opponents. Then suddenly one fleshy fist and one made of earth collided with the sides of Shino's head and he collapsed into a cloud of bugs that swarmed around the only figures left in the arena. Both figures were lifted into the air by the bugs as if they were nothing at all.

"I hope you don't mind my absence from the fight so far but with that wind of yours there wasn't much that I could have done." Shino had done it he had beaten the thing that had prevented him from damaging his opponent. "As we speak my insects are devouring your chakra." There was actually physical evidence of this as Barota's clone was dissolving back into the materials that had made it. It appeared that Shino had won to most observers. That was not the case for the ninjas from the Volcano Village. At this mock triumph they simply laughed. Even Nouta took a break from flirting to enjoy the show.

"Why are you laughing your comrade is about to be beaten."

"First I would hardly call Barota a comrade; he can be a bit of an ass at times. Second, Barota is most dangerous when he is almost out of chakra. I've seen some bad things happen to strong people when he's like that."

And Nouta's words proved true. All at once the bugs surrounding Barota fell to the ground and stopped moving. It appeared that he had formed his body into a ball and was spinning rapidly in the air. He was gradually spinning faster and as his speed increased more insects dropped to the ground.

"You see Barota is a highly trained medical ninja as well as a very strong adversary. He has learned to use his chakra scalpels as weapons in battle. They can cut more precisely than any knife so not even your friends bugs are safe." By this time nearly all of the bugs in the air were destroyed and Shino was preparing to reenter the battle.

"Chakra Disruption!" This cry came from where Shino was formerly standing but it was not Shino who said it but Barota.

"How did he get over there so quickly?"

"Actually if I had to guess he has been over there for quite sometime."

"Correct sir. I have been here since you saw my clone dissipated. You see that was actually me that dispersed. I then moved through the Earth here where I delivered a blow to a sensitive spot on your friend's body. Even if he was going to get up after that hit his insects would no longer obey him. This battle is over."

The medical team carried Shino away and Barota walked up the stairs to rejoin his sensei.

"Alright I'm awake, what did I miss?"

"Everything Asano. The fight just ended."

"Perfectly timed Barota. I didn't have to watch a thing."

"You should have. He was a much more worthy opponent than I had thought he would be."

On the other side of the arena a very different conversation was going on.

"Neji. You haven't said a word this whole time. Is something wrong?"

"Yes Naruto there is something wrong. Did you see his eyes? They were like mine. Not just the same color but they had the look of the Hyuuga clan in them."

"But that's impossible. The Hyuuga clan is from Konoha."

"I know, I didn't believe it either but then he used that technique. I just learned how to use the Chakra Disruption the day before the exams."

Authors Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger. If I didn't include them you wouldn't come back to see what happens. Also you should realize that Nauta has been changed to Nouta. I also apologize for the long chapter. I really need to balance more.


	6. To few Answers for to many Questions

To few Answers for to many Questions

"Hey Neji, you've been silent since that last match. Are you okay?"

"No Naruto I'm not okay. I just witnessed not only someone who used high level Byakugan techniques but also used them at a high level with advanced strategies against an opponent as strong as Shino. Oh and did I mention that he's not from Konoha."

"Sorry I didn't mean anything by it."

"I should apologize to you. After all you were just trying to be nice. Also we should consider that subtlety isn't exactly your strong suit."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."(Cue 5 minutes of obvious situational flashbacks involving Naruto getting hit for saying something stupid.)"Maybe you're right. I'll just be over in that corner feeling stupid."

"Don't be silly. You should be out in the center of attention. After all where would this story be without its comic relief? Besides the next match is about to start. You'd be hard pressed to watch it from that corner."

The screen read three very simple words. Gaara vs. Temari.

"Wait they've been here this whole time and no one said anything?"

"I know, and Lee has been brooding about Gaara like he was somewhere else this whole time."

"How did you know that Neji?"

"You think out loud when you think something is a particularly important issue. It gets very annoying sometimes considering the level of severity you think of everything with."

"That's beside the point. The point is that no one knew that those Sand ninja were here."

"Let's think about this rationally. It doesn't really matter that we didn't notice that they were here so much as that they are. If Gaara is here then that means during the entire month between now and the finals we'll either be training on patrol or in the hospital! No offence Lee." H nodded in understanding.

"Has no one else noticed that this is the first match between two people on the same team throughout both exams we've been in?"

"That's a good point Lee. And how ironic that it should be the team with the most trust issues."

"That's enough talking for now. I want to see if she actually tries to take him down." Every one nodded in agreement and turned to face the arena.

It seemed that everyone in the arena was interested in the outcome of this match.

"Begin, _or surrender._"

Then it seemed that Temari was going to do the obvious thing and surrender to Gaara of the Desert.

"Hey I wonder if Gaara is any more emotionally stable now than when we last…" Naruto did not get to finish his sentence because at that point Gaara blasted Temari with the sand that would eternally be at his command. There were two words that Gaara of the Desert would never understand. Unfortunately for Temari they were mercy and surrender.

The judge ran over to the body of Temari which was still being suffocated by a mask of sand.

"Stop this immediately she must be dead by now."

"No, she is not dead, yet." Then the sand stopped. "She is not worth making me feel alive." Gaara disappeared into a cloud of sand and reappeared by his other teammate who shrank away from him like he was death itself.

"Well I guess that question answered itself."

"I wonder how long it will be until the next match is…"

"And there it is. That is a rarity in this place two matches taking place almost right after each other."

"I guess they didn't want any more delays. But come on they could have picked a better match that Hinata and Ino to follow that last one."

"Yeah, I'm all for a couple quick matches thrown in there but not two in a row."

"Oh, well I guess we'll just have to wait for the next match to see a good show."

"Hey maybe that last guy from the Volcano village will go. They seem to be real entertaining."

"Yeah, but every time we face them someone nearly dies." Everyone in the balcony had a look on their faces that signaled understanding because what Neji said was true. No one wanted to face a member of the Volcano Village because it meant death or a very long recovery.

"Is anyone else wondering why the match hasn't started yet? I mean it's been like 10 minutes since the match was announced."

"The referee is making an announcement."

"If Yanamake Ino does not show up within 10 minutes she will automatically forfeit the match."

A look of surprise flashed across Naruto's face. Where could Ino be? She had been with him when he walked into the arena, but afterward he had lost track of her. "Chouji have you seen her. After all you are the one who was on her original team. You know her the best."

"No the only thing I can think of is that she might have gone some where to meditate, but she's smart enough to know that her match could be at any time so she would be within earshot."

"The 10 minutes have expired. The match goes to Hyuuga Hinata. The next match will be held shortly." The instructor turned to one of the other ninjas at his side and spoke in a very hushed voice,"I want her found as soon as possible. I'll try to delay the matches as long as possible, now go." The ninjas at his side flew off in all directions to begin the search. The instructor once again turned to the eager audience before him. "The next match will be held in 20 minutes._ I hope._"

Five minutes passed and nothing was found. 10 minutes and still nothing turned up. Then as the 20 minutes expired one of the medical-nin entered the arena carrying an unconscious Ino.

"Dear lord what happened to her? It looks like she was attacked by a rabid animal."

"Two actually. If you look closely you can see two different types of claw marks. One is of an abnormally large wolf and the other we haven't identified yet."

"Keep working on it and beta team you find out how they got in here." Somewhat flustered the instructor turned to the ninjas-in-training to make an announcement. "Please bear with us as we sort out the immediate problem. The next match will begin shortly."

Authors note: Don't you love a mystery? Well anyway sorry for the long gap between updates I was on vacation. The next chapter will be up soon!!!!


	7. Shadows and Clones

I would like to apologize for the ever changing spelling of one of my characters names but I swear this is the last time it will change. Nauta is now Naota.

Shadows and Clones

"Hey Naruto you got your wish. The other guy from the Volcano is going."

"Really the next match is posted? I don't see what's funny about that though. Oh."

"I guess this brings new meaning to the phrase, be careful what you wish for." Up on the screen below the name Uzumaki Naruto was a name that was unfamiliar to the ninja's of the Leaf Village but the young man jumping into the arena across from them made it clear who it belonged to.

"That's a peculiar name isn't it Lee. Kabume Naota. I wonder what it's from."

"Well the Volcano village is from the south so I guess they might have come from the lower part of the world."

"That seems probable. I wonder how he fights, after all so far we have seen a very mixed bag of fighting styles from the members of their Village. Asano used Genjutsu to confuse his opponent but Barota…"

"I guess it would make sense then for him to be a very strong Taijutsu user because they already have a prominent user for both other types of fighting. And besides look at his arms, they are like the most well developed that I have ever seen on some one our age."

"But Lee you can't judge things by their looks. After all your arms aren't the largest ever but still you are one of the physically strongest ninjas in Konoha."

"Oh, well either way we will wait and see. I hope Naruto can stand a chance against some one who seems to be on level with those two others."

"You do realize that I am standing right next to you right." Lee turned to see a very fuming Naruto standing next to him.

"Sorry Naruto but I'm just saying that these guys seem really strong and you are well, you. I'm not disrespecting your strength as a ninja but your style of fighting seems to be based a lot on luck. You may not be fortunate enough to pull off your normal antics against these guys."

"You'll see. I'll prove myself to all of you. I can beat a guy like him in my sleep." As Naruto leapt down into the arena he was already sweating. Not from exertion but because he knew Lee was right. He was going to have to pull together some type of plan if he wanted to stand a chance against this guy. As he walked to the center of the arena Naruto considered his strengths. _"Let's see. Genjutsu, I usually end up getting caught up in my own trap so that's no good. This place is far too small to summon Gamabunta in, if he decides to come. I'm fairly decent at Taijutsu, but by the look of this guy he's probably better. About the only Ninjutsu I can perform consistently are Kage Bunshin and Rasengan. Wait! there's always that one illusion Ero-sennin taught me, but I've only done it right twice."_

"Naruto, we're all rooting for you up here."

"Ero-sennin! What are you doing here?"

"I just got back from a research trip and thought I should stop in and see your match as long as I was here. After all I am your teacher."

"Yeah, when it's convenient for you to be, besides the last thing you taught me ended up being completely useless."

"Like I told you before. The technique is only useless because your brain is."

"Listen you perverted old hermit. Do you want to settle this right now?"

"Actually I think that guy charging at you right now wants a piece of you right now so I'll take a rain check for when you're out of the hospital." Yet again displaying his trademark idiocy, Naruto had not noticed that the instructor had told them to start while he was having his argument. By the time Naruto turned around it was too late to dodge to assault that was coming, so Naruto did the first thing that comes to the mind of some one who is about to die. That's right you know what's coming. Naruto dropped to the ground and curled into the fetal position. So great was Naota's momentum and his surprise that he didn't alter his path enough to counter the new position of his opponent.

As Naota hit the ground a large cloud of dust flew into the air. A second later Naruto jumped out of the cloud as it was clearing.

"He's gone." Everyone in the arena's attention was drawn to the spot where the young ninja had been.

"I hate it when he disappears like that. It always reminds me what a freak show we are."

"You know. Before I was just going to beat you kid." Naruto wildly looked for the source of the voice. "But now I'm thinking about playing a little."

"Hey, dude. Unless you've got some serious shit up your ass you might want to consider surrendering now. I think you made him mad, er."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto and you will listen to me where ever you are. I am the ninja that will some day become Hokage…"

"Quick question from the class: do you ever SHUTUP!?" At that time Naota seemed to come from the floor and kicked Naruto straight into the air. In mid-air Naruto flipped so that he landed on the ground feet first.

Taking a moment to catch his breath after that tremendous kick Naruto assumed a sort of fighting stance. "If your done now I believe it's my turn." No one expected Naruto to be that bold and challenge his formidable opponent right out. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" The stream of clones from Naruto's location seemed to go on indefinitely.

"What did you and Naruto do for training that his power has increased so much?"

"For almost a month straight I had Naruto use a technique that would instantly force him to use all the chakra in his body, but leave him with just enough to live. This allowed him to call on the near infinite chakra of the nine tails more readily thus increasing his own chakra 30 fold."

"What? So you're saying that he could go on cloning like that for almost a month?" Lee and Neji were stunned. How had Naruto survived that training and profited so much from nearly dieing every day for a month.

Even though there were a vast amount of them the clones did not seem to have acquired an advance in intelligence from all that training. Instead of grouping and immobilizing their common opponent the clones simply went at the ninja in a simple formation that allowed Naota to pick them off one at a time.

"Oh, no. even though there are so many of them Naota is still just picking them off."

"Don't worry. With the numbers that they are coming in even the most practiced taijutsu user will tire eventually."

"I'm getting tired of this." Naota beat off a few more clones clearing out the area he was standing in, and then he reached down close to the ground and clenched his hands around something in the shadows at his feet.

"What is he grabbing down there? I don't see anything there." Neji scanned the area at Naota's feet even using his Byakugan he was so desperate to know this ninja's plan.

Jiraiya realized what it was before everyone else, but not early enough for Naruto. "Naruto watch out. He isn't grabbing something in the shadows he's grabbing the shadows themselves!"

"Disparity Pool!" In that instant the shadows of all the clones pooled together in a raging torrent of shadow and chakra. Soon massive amounts of the swirling clones started to disappear in puffs of smoke. Eventually none were left and the dark mass below the arena that had been Naota's devastating technique faded into nothingness leaving behind a very beaten around Naruto and a very happy looking Naota.

"Fool in your arrogance in your own strength you fed mine. Thanks to the mass amount of clones you summoned I was able to pool their shadows together and use them to fuel my technique."

Authors Note: Do not worry that is not the end of the fight merely a convenient middle point in the story to stop before exams. Even though Naruto is really lame he is the main character and I must respect him/ that.


	8. Foxes and Wolves

Foxes and Wolves

"Ahhh! (As in yawn) Wasn't that exciting?"

"What? Asano? When did you get there?"

"Questions and suspicion that's all I get from you people. I've been here for about 15 minutes and if your friend down there had bothered to take the stairs you would have known that. Any way I got kicked out of my side of the arena for sleeping too much."

"There's nothing wrong with a good nap every once and a while."

"Thank you. What's your name?"

"I'm Chouji."

"Ah well I snore. Loudly. But that's beside the point. While I'm here I might as well watch the match. By the way if that's all your boy's got he's pretty screwed."

"For such a young kid you have a pretty adult mouth."

"That happens when you had to grow up fast. Oh look he's getting up again. I hope the next round lasts longer."

"You know Naruto you could always surrender. It would save you a lot of pain, and me a lot of energy."

"I will never give up. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Same old same old." As the army of clones dived toward Naota he once again readied the disparity pool.

"Disparity Pool!" Once again the clones swirled and disappeared, but there was one key difference. When the attack finished in the air above Naota there were three clones and Naruto.

"I found your techniques range. Now who should surrender?" In Naruto's right hand swirled the Rasengan. "Now, Rasengan!"

"Ha, he found a weakness in his attack. There is a gap in the technique where Naota can't do anything."

Naruto surged through the air and as Lee predicted Naota did not move. Then when Naruto's Rasengan was only inches away Naota simply sunk into the ground. Naruto's technique hit the massive force that was intended to hit Naota. On the other side of the arena laughter was heard. Deep dark and decidedly evil.

"Fool, I've been watching you for quite some time now. Did you think that some one like me was going to be hit with something as obvious as that? Don't insult me. You're petty technique is nothing compared to the abilities that I posses." By this point everyone was eager to know what had happened.

"Hey Asano would you…"

"Explain this to you? I would be delighted. You see Naota's command of the shadows is not limited to the disparity pool. He can move through them. As long as there are two shadows in the world his ability will allow him to move between them. For now let's consider this teleportation. In this case the two anchors were his own shadow and that of the wall."

"So is that it?"

"Chouji was it? No, that is not it, as you put it. There are many other things he can do with an abscess of light."

"Asano shut up so I can keep beating up this kid. Come!" At this the shadow of the wall completely disappeared and in it's place two swords.

"Well I guess it's over now."

"Why would that be?"

"Well each of those swords is 7 feet long and made of pure shadow, which makes them sharper than any knife and harder than diamond. Unless your boy has something to counter that please, give me something that could save him now."

"That explains his massive arms."

Naota picked up the swords in a backwards fashion so that the blades were dragging on the ground behind him. Then he charged at Naruto with surprising speed given what he was carrying. He dropped to the ground and surprisingly the blades just melted back into shadow as there owner's hands neared the earth. Naota performed a leg sweep to attempt tripping Naruto which was easily dodged with a jump into the air from Naruto.

"Fool." Naota's shadow swords reformed propelling him off the ground turning a dodged spin kick into a direct kick to the face. Apparently Naota wasn't finished with his attack yet because as the combatants rose into the air he took one of the hilts of his swords and jacked the back of Naruto's head with it flipping the now unconscious ninja face down. The next step in this seemingly never ending combo attack was Naota kneeing Naruto in the stomach. At this point the extent of Naota's damage was seen in the virtual lake of blood coughed up by Naruto.

"He made his point. He needs to stop this."

"Relax it's almost over. There is only one more step to Naota's ultimate attack. _In this form."_

True to his word by this time the combatants had reached the ceiling and Naota braced himself against it with the hilts of both swords pressed into different parts of Naruto's body. One on his chest and one on the lower part of his abdomen. The two seemed to be suspended in air as Naota started spinning Naruto around with ever increasing speed using his swords as handles. Then seemingly without ever stopping the increasing speed of Naruto's spinning Naota hammered down with both arms on his swords sending Naruto to the ground with enough force to shake the building.

"That is the most powerful and ruthless technique you will ever see, the Drill Shot. Only one person has ever survived it and was able to continue living in an acceptable manner."

Lee wanted to know who on Earth could survive something like that and continue being a ninja. "Who was it?"

"That would be me."

Naota was slowly floating down to earth as if the strength of his technique had some how altered gravities effect on him.

All of a sudden something shot out of the crater that was made with Naota's attack and collided with him.

"Impossible he got hit with that attack and then could still fight?" Rock Lee was astonished at the fortitude that Naruto had displayed.

"This could be more interesting than I thought. Who knows how this could go if Naota is going to be forced to use _that_ technique." Naota hit the ground with a thud. "Your boy got lucky. Normally if someone tried something like that he would evaporate the swords, but that soon after drill shot nobody was expecting him to come back that soon."

As the dust cleared Naruto was in full fox mode.

"Good job Naruto! You are proving yourself worthy of being my pupil!"

"You best be quiet old man. The only thing keeping me going right now is that rain check you gave me. And if you were wondering Naruto isn't here anymore." The Kyuubi controlling Naruto's body turned to face the recovering Naota. "This is my battle now." With that the one tail protruding from Naruto's backend split and became three.

"Quick, Jiriya-sama how powerful is he when he is like this?"

"Well the most tails he's ever pulled out during our training is two so I would have to guess."

"For now that's good enough. Please for Naruto's sake."

"If I absolutely had to guess I would say that he is at least as strong as a mid-rank ANBU member. Why would that have anything to do with Naruto's well being?"

"Because that's not powerful enough to beat Naota's transformed state. We have to somehow warn him to not spill Naota's blood, but I doubt that the Kyuubi will listen to us."

"Asano, why shouldn't the Kyuubi spill any of Naota's blood?"

"Because, he needs blood scattered around him in order to open the seals binding him."

"Don't tell me that someone of his age endured the Blood pact seal being put upon them?"

"Jiraiya, what is that technique?"

"Why don't we have Asano explain what the details are? By the look on his face I'm guessing that he knows the details of it more intimately than I do."

"Quite observant of you Jiraiya-sama. The Blood pact seal requires three people. The person that is to have the seal placed upon him. Second the person placing the seal upon said person, and third the person who would be the strength of the seal, which would be me in this case. That means that as long as I am alive, Naota's blood needs to be spilled in order for him to access the thing being sealed."

"What is being sealed, Asano?"

"By the look of the battle you're about to find out."

And it was so. The Kyuubi unleashed punch after punch and kick after kick upon Naota, who made almost no attempt to dodge them. Then after a particularly hard kick to Naota's stomach, he coughed up blood.

"And so it starts. The battle of wolves and foxes."

Much to the Kyuubi's surprise his next kick was blocked by one of Naota's muscular forearms. Naota then twisted around his hand to grab the demon foxes leg. From this position Naota used his considerable strength to turn quickly in a circle and threw the Kyuubi into the far wall.

Naota used the momentum remaining from his spinning throw to kneel down, dip his fingers in the blood he recently coughed up and propel himself into the air. "Blood pact opening: Spirit of the Wolf emerges!" Naota jabbed his blood covered fingers to his chest and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

About this time Naruto's form emerged from its new hole in the wall and looked around for the one who had thrown him.

Asano turned to Hyuuga Hinata and spoke again, "You may want to look away for this next part. When Naota transforms he loses pretty much all sense of human compassion, if he had any to begin with."

"What are you saying?" Rock Lee had recently changed his attitude about this match yet again to being worried about Naruto. Now he wanted to know just how worried he should be.

"I am saying that as long as Naota is like this and he can stand, which are pretty much the same at this point, he will not stop attacking until your friend is dead. All I'm waiting for is to see how out of control he gets."

"Are you saying that even though you know that Naruto will almost certainly die in this fight you are going to do nothing to stop it?"

"No I am not. What I am saying is that once Naruto's condition is to a point that our interference will not interfere with Naota's victory, my teammate and I will stop him."


	9. Monsters and Tamers

Monsters and Tamers

Warning: This chapter is more violent than the others. Read with caution. If I believed the same effect could have been achieved with less violence I would have written it like that. Thank you, enjoy.

"You're kidding me right?"

"Unfortunately right now, his victory comes before Naruto's safety. I am truly sorry for your friend's pain though. If it comforts you any know this, excluding me and our teacher this is the longest anyone, including Barota has lasted against him."

"How will you know when to interfere in the battle? You can't even see what's going on."

"Do not misjudge my handicap. Even though I can not see exactly what's going on I can understand enough. For example I know that you are exactly 3.89 meters away from me, and judging from the way you shuffle your feet you are heavy set and a very capable Taijutsu user."

"That's freaky good. How do you know all of this?"

"Practice. I know your distance by means of your breathing, which by the way is very loud. The heavy set part was easily deduced through your foot heaviness on the ground and the way you walk around everyone where a normal sized person would simply walk straight."

"So you're a profiler then. He is right in saying that his skill is no more than training. After all his method is just taking the time to memorize the way certain types of people move and how those people sound from certain distances."

"So you are _the_ Jiraiya. Your hypothesis is truly remarkable given the small amount of information given to you. However…" Everyone listening was amazed that Jiraiya was wrong in his perfectly rational reasoning. "…that is not how I honed my skill given that it would take 11 years to gather that data and I am not even that old. Oh look Naota finally showed himself. Oh good he fully transformed that means it won't get to bad."

In the arena Naruto was down on all fours, as Lee had seen him do when in his Fox form many times, circling around the crater he had recently been at the bottom of opposite an abnormally large wolf that Lee assumed was Naota.

"They've been circling like that for like 5 minutes. When is someone going to do something?"

"It's a dog thing they're establishing who is stronger. You see when dogs fight each other it's actually very civilized. They just size each other up forever until they feel confident one of them is at a disadvantage then come at each other once and it's over. They only size each other up so the loser will be able to go home and tell their mate that they…Ohhhhhhhh, it's about to start."

Sure enough the two combatants were slowly decreasing the radius of their circle then Naruto struck. He lashed out at Naota with the claws he traditionally grew when he was like this. Naruto successfully hit Naota across the neck but before he could draw any blood Naota struck back by striking Naruto across the face with his tail and then swiftly turning to bite down hard on his opponent's leg and using his favorable position to lift Naruto into the air and once again pound him into the ground. Not missing a beat though Naruto used this and launched Naota into the air with a direct kick to his abdomen. Then Naruto started picking up the pieces of stone that had been chipped from the main floor by the force of the blows previously dealt to Naruto and throwing them at the airborne Naota. Most of them missed due to Naruto's blood loss and blurry vision but soon he learned to adjust for this and connected with his target. As Naruto ran out of ammunition it seemed that it was time for Naota to attack per the course of the battle and he delivered on everyone's expectations. The airborne wolf neared the ceiling and as he had before stopped there seemingly unaffected by gravity.

"Do not worry this will be the last attack that we will permit. This technique is unstoppable and cannot miss. It is the…

"Gravity Distortion Cannon!" As the words left Asano's lips they seemed to echo throughout the whole arena.

A large mass of a black metallic substance formed in front of Naota's open mouth and a howl escaped his throat as it started its slow descent downward. The further the ball moved the faster it went. Soon approached Naruto and he did what any sane person would do he dived away, however when he did so the ball followed.

"That ball is made of pure gravity, it will follow the specific chakra signature of whoever it was aimed at and envelope their body causing them to use up all the energy they have just to resist its force. As you probably guessed this technique is non-lethal but any follow up attacks would be taken at 20 times their original force. This is where I will stop the battle if I need to but hopefully Naota is smart enough to end it now." Sure enough Naruto was in a heap on the ground passed out no longer transformed but with the substance, which was currently sinking into the ground all around his body.

Everyone looked up to see if Naota would follow this with anything. It appeared that the battle was over seeing that Naota was once again a human being and was walking over to his swords to apparently pick them up.

"I guess it's over Naota's just going to pickup his equipment."

"Fool. If it was over he would just evaporate his swords."

"Die you worthless **_bastard_**!" Naota screamed and charged at the unconscious Naruto.

Barota was already there by the time Naota turned around. "Don't do this, he is not worth it."

"How wrong you are fool." Naota swung his sword and Barota disappeared just in time to dodge it. After the road block was removed from his path Naota continued his charge. As he neared Naruto he stopped in his tracks.

"Why did he stop?"

"It is called Kanashibari no Jutsu. It freezes the target in place temporarily." In a flash Asano moved from beside the ninjas to in between Naota and Naruto. "That was very stupid of you to get me involved Naota. You can be assured that you will be punished later. For now just leave. Bunshin Daibakuha." Asano seemingly imploded his own body and sent Naota flying into a wall. The impact knocked him unconscious and Barota returned to take him to their teacher. Somehow Asano was there as well completely unharmed.

"Jiraiya-sama, what is it that just happened?"

"I can't be completely sure Lee but I will explain what I am certain of. Originally when Naota turned around Barota was expecting him to attack Naruto and so was there but was not expecting Naota to attack him. Then when Naota was frozen that was an effect of Asano's Kanashibari no Jutsu which he was kind enough to explain as the temporary paralysis technique. Then finally the final step was Asano using Shunshin no Jutsu, the Body Flicker technique to quickly get down to the arena and executing the Bunshin Daibakuha, Clone Great Explosion. Which means that the whole time that we were talking to him it was really a clone. I am surprised that someone that young can use a string of such high level techniques so well."

"I have heard of all of those techniques except the last one. Where is it from?"

"I guess you could say that it is from Konoha." Jiraiya looked to be far away, "Because the only other person I've seen using that technique is Uchiha Itachi. You will have to ask Naruto to forgive my leaving at such a time but I need to go do research."

"Of course Jiraiya –sama."

Authors Note: For all of you who made it through and read it thanks. The next few chapters will be less violent now that the tournament is almost over.


	10. A Mysterious End

A Mysterious End

Rock Lee could barely believe what he had just said. No it was not okay for him to leave. Naruto was just brutally beaten into a pulp by one of the mysterious Volcano ninjas and then the one who took out Naruto was defeated without effort by someone from his own village, and to top it all off that boy was able to use a chain of skills that one of the Sannin considered high level. Who were these people?

Hyuuga Neji had a very different question. Will he get to fight? There were only three people left in the tournament which meant that one of them would get a bye and automatically advance to the next round. Two were from Konoha, Chouji and himself. The other was Kankuro from the Sand village, brother of Gaara of the Desert. If he had to fight Chouji Neji was not worried because while Chouji had improved a lot as a ninja, Neji had improved more. Kankuro was another matter though. Neji knew that he was strong because he had been part of the raid party sent by the sand to invade Konoha and the Sand wouldn't trust any Gennin with that task.

"Would Chouji Akimichi please report to the floor?" Chouji hopped down to the floor and walked down to the instructor. The instructor whispered something in his ear and Chouji recoiled in shock. He collapsed on the floor and appeared to be crying. Two members of the guard came and escorted him off the arena floor. "The last match of the preliminaries of this Chuunin exam will now take place. Kankuro vs. Hyuuga Neji."

"Now at least I will get to fight someone who will be a challenge." Neji had already released his Byakugan as he walked toward his opponent.

"I think that I will be more than a challenge to you." Kankuro removed the two bundles from his back that everyone knew to be the Puppets that were his trademark weapons.

"Now let the last of the preliminary matches begin."

"Someone move. He said start now."

"Hey Asano why don't you shut your yap and just be quiet!"

"Barota, do you think I'm in the mood to put up with your crap right now?"

"Hey kids. Why don't you stop arguing like little girls?"

"Fine but he started it." Asano truly showed his age of only ten by sticking his tongue out at Barota who just ignored it.

Neji tried to ignore the apparent idiocy of the very skilled ninjas above him. Based on the Chakra that was being emitted by the person standing in front of him the real Kankuro was in one of the two wraps behind the puppet body but due to the nature of the cases Neji could not tell which one.

Kankuro sat and knew that Neji knew he was concealed. He wasn't conceited enough to face the genius of the Hyuuga clan straight off. The problem was that Kankuro couldn't tell how much the boy knew about his whereabouts. I guess that we'll have to wait and see won't we boys.

"Now we'll find out where you really are Kankuro. Eight Trigrams Empty Palm!" A large burst of wind-like chakra burst from Neji's hand and knocked Kankuro against the wall behind him.

"That was pretty pointless considering it had almost no effect on me." Kankuro closed his eyes and ran his hand over the top of his head. After he opened his eyes he was met with a very unpleasant surprise. Neji was standing right in front of him and had assumed the stance for his technique.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Two strikes." Neji seemed to be aiming the strikes differently than any other time he had done this technique. First he hit the centers of Kankuro's hands. "Four strikes," now the arms at four different points, "Eight strikes," Oddly Neji now changed targets and hit the puppet on Kankuro's right at points that only he could see. "Sixteen strikes," now he dropped only a few inches above the ground performed a very fluid spin and in one motion rose and started hitting points on his third target. With the sixteenth strike however Neji seemed to hit air. "Thirty two strikes." Neji again changed targets and focused on the right hand puppet again. With twenty-eight strikes Neji hit various points in the bundle, with three he hit the air and with one he hit one that seemed to be about face level. As he delivered that hit the wrapping fell away revealing one of Kankuro's puppets. Neji was not at all fazed by this discovery. "Sixty-Four strikes." He delivered one more strike toward the puppet followed by two strikes into the air and the rest of the strikes were directed toward the bundle on Kankuro's left side. When Neji had finished he flipped his hair which seemed to get longer every time someone saw him behind his back and jumped back away from Kankuro.

Kankuro's face cracked to reveal the face of Karasu the Black Ant and the wrapping of the bundle to its left fell away to reveal Kankuro who seemed disoriented but obviously far from defeated. "Well that was interesting. I commend you on seeing through my defenses but I am far from defeated." At that Kankuro made a motion with his hands as if to call his puppets to attention, but as he did so the chakra strings he used to control them completely fell away from one and two fell away from the other.

"I'm not so sure about that." Neji once again assumed his signature stance. "The points I hit in your hands and arms prevent you from producing any more chakra strings so you can forget about regaining control of your puppet. Now shall we finish this?" Neji smirked because he knew that a large degree of Kankuro's hi-level techniques depended upon his two tools working together and with that not possible it made Kankuro a much smaller threat.

Kankuro was angered by Neji's arrogance. To think that he was finished just because he only had one puppet was preposterous. Karasu is after all the attacking puppet. All he needed was one hit with Karasu's poisoned blades and the battle was over. If he wanted his end to be swift he would get it. Karasu separated revealing the many weapon's hidden in its many compartments. They all lunged toward Neji in their last attack.

"Pity. I thought he would last longer." Neji began to whirl engaging his Great Whirl defense. All of Karasu's weapons were scattered on the ground as Neji stopped spinning. He walked forward and as he did so Kankuro basically threw the puppet at Neji hoping to throw him off balance and attack but Neji deflected the puppet severing the last chakra strings in the process. He finished his walk over to Kankuro and whispered in his ear. "It's over and I'm honored." Neji hit Kankuro between his eyes with a last Juuken strike and Kankuro collapsed. Neji stood up and walked toward the instructor, "He was knocked unconscious by that last strike so you can call the match now."

"With the conclusion of the final match the tournament preliminaries are now over. Will all match winners please report to the arena." Gradually the tired ninjas, including Naota who had recently recovered, made their various ways to the arena in front of the instructor. "Due to some unforeseen circumstances the matches for the first round of the preliminaries will be as follows. Asano of the Volcano Village vs. Rock Lee of Konoha." Rock Lee looked at his opponent for the next round and saw reflected the training he was going to have to do in order to prepare. "Hyuuga Neji of Konoha vs. Aguuyh Barota of the Volcano Village." Neji did not even look to acknowledge his next opponent; he already knew what he had to do. "Hyuuga Hinata vs. Gaara of the Desert." Anyone watching could see a look of fear pass briefly across Hinata's face, but she quickly suppressed her fear and did not let it show. "Lastly Naota will be given a bye because of the odd amount of people. Now go prepare for the next round. You have one month." Then the instructor walked away allowing the students to simply disperse as they would. The first to leave was the ninjas from the Volcano Village. They made their way through the streets of Konoha as if they were ordinary citizens. As they reached the Gate of Konoha one man stood in their path.

"Hello Kakashi-san. It has been far too long since we have seen each other."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. You and I have never met before. I have simply been asked to stop you as you left and question your group."

"Well then let me introduce myself. I am Ichigo Asano."

"That name is from the Rice country." Kakashi performed some hand seals unveiled his Sharingan and braced his right arm which now held the Chidori, its trademark cry whistling through the air. "Tell me do you three have any connection to Orochimaru?"

"Don't insult me. That bastard doesn't deserve me."

"So you do know him."

"Kakashi. You should not be worried about Orochimaru right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I always told you that your technique had two weaknesses and one day someone would exploit them. After all you were always the genius of the group, figure it out." Asano's eyes visibly flexed and a hoop formed around Kakashi's wrist that threw him through the gate and into the street. "Let's go guys."

"Hey Asano did you know that guy before you know, it happened?"

"Yeah Barota. He was my partner."

* * *

Authors note: If anyone would like to try to figure out what was implied by the last part you can contact me to guess. Feel free to chastise me if you find any errors. 


	11. The Month Of Revelation

The Month of Revelation

Ichigo Asano stood among a field of straw dummies preparing for his final exercise before his team returned to Konoha.

"Alright Bear Boy. Go…" to a normal persons eye it seemed that Asano hardly even moved, but to the highly trained eyes of the spies observing the exercise what they saw astounded them. Before the word go even finished resounding around the canyon Asano had graced each and every target.

Asano reached down and grabbed his previously discarded straight jacket. "Now if you would kindly remove our visitors Barota, we can be on our way."

"Oh crap. He found us." As the spy said this Barota muttered what sounded like a Jutsu and plunged his arms into the ground. The team of spies started to turn and run but they were too slow. Two giant hands emerged from the ground and grabbed hold of each of their legs. Struggle as they may the two could not free them.

"How did you know that we were here you freak?"

"Oh that wasn't nice. After all I am going to let one of you live. Naota, I believe it's your turn." Naota just smiled and bent down to the ground. Both of his hands disappeared into the shadows of Barota's captives and then emerged with what looked like the still beating hearts of the spies. "Now Naota which one looks more likely to survive the process of putting them back."

"Wait you can't just do the same thing again to put them back?"

"No unfortunately I have some problems putting them back. They always end up inside one of the lungs for some reason. Oh well here goes nothing." Naota plunged his hands into the shadows and then pulled them back out. "Now which one is still alive?" Both of the spies were shaken up but still breathing.

"This is taking to long." Barota curled his hand into a semi fist and delivered a blow to one of the spy's chest right where his heart would be. "Now can we just get on with it? The next training spot is a day away and we only have four days left."

"Fine. You, the living one, go back to your boss and give him this message. 'The Big Three of The Darkness have arrived and are ready to take the Five Great Shinobi Nations down.'" Asano, followed by Barota and Naota, walked away. After the Spy lost sight of them the hand encasing his leg crumbled away leaving him free to go. He turned to face the canyon where Asano had been training.

"There must be at least 500 targets down there, yet he managed to graze all of them and return to his position before the echo stopped." Just then all 500 targets exploded in a mass wave of wind. "That boy is no ordinary ninja. Tsunade must be warned."

**In Konoha**

Rock Lee was in a secluded clearing in the forest surrounding Konoha chanting numbers that were ascending toward his goal.

"9997…" With nothing but his thumbs touching the ground Rock Lee was doing pushups being observed by his Sensei. "9998…" His weights had been doubled for the month of training he had done, and he was still wearing them during the exercise. "9999…" Did I mention that Gai was also sitting on top of Lee's extended legs during the exercise, more than doubling the weight Lee was lifting? "10000." Gai jumped down off of Lee's legs as Lee swooped down.

"You have done well during this month Lee."

"Thank you Gai-sensei. Do you think it is enough to defeat him though?"

"You mean the one that damaged the door?" By now the rumor of someone in the Chuunin exam putting Kakashi the Copy ninja through the great gate of Konoha was spread around the village. "Yes Lee I believe your will is strong enough to overcome anything that you encounter." Gai gave Lee his Legendary Good Guy pose that always inspired his student. But in reality he did not know if it was going to be enough. The image of Kakashi's face as he got up from the attack that had been inflicted upon him still burned in his mind. How was some one with such strength still a Gennin? "Come Lee that is enough for today." Teacher and student returned to the village. One filled with optimism and the other with worry.

**A Secluded Valley**

"Don't lose concentration Naota."

"That would be a lot easier if you would stop talking."

"You say that as if your opponents will give you the same generosity." Barota stood where the shade of a palm tree had been.

"That's it."

"Keep going you've still got a little more." Naota's hands were clasped together in a makeshift hand seal. Just a moment ago the clasped hands had begun shaking with effort. Everything within the Valley was in sunlight. Nothing was dark except the three meter radius around Naota which was pure blackness.

"No that's all that's there."

"Fine. Now you can release it." The large ball around Naota disintegrated and went back to the various areas the shadows had been snatched from. "Oh, well. You managed to increase your range by half a mile."

"Congrats, your shield is impenetrable now. Three meters thick was the goal. Pussy."

"You shouldn't pass judgment. Your training is yet to come. We have two and a half days come on."

**In Konoha**

"Where is Tsunade-sama?"

"Relax Goujin. She is on a diplomatic mission to the Rice Country. Since the Orochimaru incident they have been trying to regain our trust."

"Damn it. When will she be back?"

"She will return tomorrow. What is so urgent?"

"I was spying on those ninja's from the Chuunin exam. You know the ones that put Kakashi through the door."

"Oh, what did you find out?"

"That's what I need to talk to Tsunade about. That boy with the covered eyes is no ordinary Gennin. His speed is on par with some of the faster Jounin I've ever seen."

"Just because he's fast doesn't mean anything."

"Yes but Tsunade said that he has some sort of power that allows him to generate objects out of thin air. That combined with speed could make him dangerous."

"I agree, but nothing can be done until Tsunade gets back tomorrow. Go home and relax."

"Yes Shizune-san. I will return as soon as Tsunade has returned." Goujin turned and left the Fifth Hokage's office.

Shizune sat at the desk opposite the door her spy had just exited. "If that boy is some how connected to Orochimaru then we can expect him to have more tricks up his sleeve than being really fast. Who is he facing in the first round?" Shizune rummaged through the mass of paperwork that awaited the Hokage when she returned for a list of the first round pairings for the Chuunin Exam. "He's facing one of ours? Some one must notify Rock Lee of this development." Shizune rushed out of the door not even bothering to close it behind her.

**Outskirts of the Fire Country**

"Do you think he's deep enough to go again?"

"Either way he's pretty out of it. He didn't yell at the last three rocks we threw at him." Asano and Naota sat on opposite banks of a river that ended in a waterfall. Barota sat in the flow of said waterfall. His body shrouded by the flow washing over his head. Asano flicked another rock at his teammate to check his awareness. The rock stopped two inches in front of Barota's face. "I think he's ready. **_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" _A massive fireball issued from Asano's mouth and headed in the direction of Barota. Just centimeters before the fireball made contact with Barota's face it stopped for a fraction of a second and then veered off into the bushes, incinerating them.**

**"Don't you think a high level ball like that was overkill? It's not like any of the Konoha babies can generate something like that."**

**"True. But then again we're not really training for them are we? Besides that wasn't overkill. This is overkill, _Katon: Karyu Endan!" _An even bigger burst of fire issued from Asano's mouth and took the shape of a dragon as it hurtled toward Barota. Barota visibly strained his will but the blast barely even slowed down. The water around Barota shifted paths and became a wall in front of him.**

**"No, no, no. That wasn't part of the training. Naota."**

**"You really are a sadistic freak." Naota raised his arms and the shadow of the waterfall rose up and blocked Barota's protective wall.**

**"Now what will you do?"**

**Barota's time to think was almost up and it showed on his face as he roused from his slumber. "If you want to play that way then I have no choice. Frozen Eye Primal Half Golem." The rock that Barota had been sitting on shattered as a blast of energy issued out of the air surrounding Barota. The rock fragments reformed around the arms of Barota as the water at his feet enveloped his chest. The fiery dragon made contact with Barota's chest and evaporated as the water armor continuously regenerated.**

**"Daaaaaaaaamn. Why didn't you do that in the first place? Or you know that one time at the Volcano."**

**"Because Naota. A treasure chest needs to be unlocked before its treasures can be seen."**

**"Asano you are way to smart for your own good."**

**"No just yours. Come on the tournament starts tomorrow. We will need to walk most of the night."**

**Konoha Hokage's Office**

"Hokage-sama I came as soon as I heard you were back."

"Hurry up and make your report. I need a nap; my bodyguard unit hardly let me sleep the entire time we were in the Rice Country."

"My mission was to spy on the ninja's in the Chuunin exam from the Volcano Village."

"Yes get on with it."

"Three days ago I witnessed the one called Asano performing an exercise. That was to touch all 500 targets in a valley and then return to his position. He completed the exercise before the go signal finished echoing around the valley. Then he picked up his jacket and proceeded to announce that he had noticed me and my partner."

"Speaking of, where is he?"

"I am getting there Tsunade-sama. We started to run because we were ordered to avoid conflict. Then another of the boys used a technique that I was unfamiliar with to trap us. When they had reached us the one who controls darkness somehow reached into our chests and pulled out our hearts. I am the one that 'survived' him putting them back. Then they told me to give you a message."

"What is it?"

"He said, 'The Big Three of The Darkness have arrived and are ready to take the Five Great Shinobi Nations down.'"

"That is all. You can go now." Goujin exited the room and closed the door behind him. When he had done this Tsunade spoke again. "If what Goujin said is accurate then we need to do something about our Gennin in the tournament. Any one Gennin who can out play two low level ANBU is incredible. Let alone three of them on one team."

"I have already talked with Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee. Both wish to proceed with their matches. Also we will be notified the moment they enter the village so we can track their movements." There was a knock on the door. "Enter."

The one at the door was a gate guard. "Tsunade-sama, they're here."

"Thank you. I want two members of ANBU on them at all times and increase security at the matches."

"What if one of the Feudal Lords objects?"

"Tell him that we are doing this as a precaution after what happened last time."

**At the Gates of Konoha**

Asano, Barota and Naota had arrived at the same time as the representative from the Sand Village, Gaara of the Desert.

"Pay him no mind yet. Remember in the matches, use as little energy as possible, we'll be fighting all day."

"Yeah that means you Golem boy."

"What about you mister Gravity Cannon in the prelims."

"Both of you shut up. God, it is like traveling with a married couple. One last thing, we already know who dies, don't go rouge…"

"Again."

"You're never gonna let me live that down are you Barota?"

"Absolutely not."

Authors Note: If you didn't realize it there is now a forum for anyone who wants to talk about the story in any fashion. I will gladly accept any comment you have / improvement you think I should make. In any case please review to tell me what you think.


	12. Entrances are Everything

Entrances are Everything

As Naruto approached the arena that the Chuunin Exam was about to be held in he realized just how Rock Lee must have felt the last time; the feeling of disappointment that came with being one of the only competing Gennin from Konoha to not make it into the main matches. Yet even with this feeling of inadequacy seeping throughout his being Naruto could not help but to feel happy for Rock Lee. "I got my chance now it's your turn." Naruto turned toward the gates and entered the arena.

Shortly after Sakura was seen entering the arena with a recovering Ino. Not surprisingly Chouji chose to attend but not to talk to Ino yet. The claim that Chouji had attacked Ino had long since been dismissed but none the less Ino and Chouji's relationship would take time to recover. Also Chouji was not competing because even though he was not guilty the judges on spot decision could not be overturned unless the real culprit was apprehended.

Everyone was interested as to when and in what manner the three Volcano ninjas would arrive. The time of the first match was approaching and they had not arrived. Then as all eyes were glued to the arena entrance one walked in. It was Barota. His look had considerably changed since the last time anyone in Konoha had seen him. He wore a shirt that was opened up revealing a mark on his chest that seemed to be half drawn and half burned there. Also his pants were light blue and flowed behind him a distance behind him. No one was expecting him to arrive yet because of the Volcano ninjas to fight, he was last. He walked up to the instructor and made an announcement. "Aguuyh Barota reporting for the Chuunin exam. Asano will be here momentarily. He got hungry on the way here." Once he had made his statement he walked directly under the balcony that the competing Gennin were in and muttered a single word. "Up." He lifted into the air and hit the floor of the balcony with a slight whoosh.

While everyone was watching the happenings by the balcony something else was happening by the instructor. Naota had simply risen up out of the ground behind the surprised instructor. "You'll have to excuse my comrade. He's a prick. Naota of the Darkness reporting for the Chuunin exam." With that everyone in the arena's eyes turned to him but Naota said no more, instead he walked to the center of the arena and turned sharply toward the balcony. As he continued to walk forward many people took in the drastic difference in his look as well. Instead of the faded black clothing he had previously chosen he wore clothes that looked newly made. On his upper body he wore a black leather jacket that had its arms crudely cut off and underneath that he had a T-shirt on that was black with a blood red swirl coming out from the center. His pants were jet black with the same blood red line from his shirt joining one running down his pants. The unusual thing about his outfit that knocked a few people off guard was the fact that there was no evidence of a headband anywhere on Naota's body, whereas Barota wore his around his wrist. The last thing everybody in the crowd noticed was his sunglasses. They had a bright metallic gleam but didn't reflect the light into your eyes, and they looked as if they were made of one solid piece of material. Naota continued his walk toward the wall and as his legs passed into the shadow of the balcony they disappeared and the rest of his body followed suit as it came into contact with the darkness. As parts of his body disintegrated they slowly appeared above him in the balcony. Eventually his entire body had disappeared and reappeared in the balcony next to his comrade. Everyone was eager to see what would happen when the final member of the team arrived.

As the clock hit one second before the match started a blur of motion and kicked up dust flew into the arena door and continued up onto the arena wall. As soon as the blur was successfully onto the wall a noise that sounded like a very high speed object attempting to stop itself. The cloud doubled in size once the noise started. As the blur circled the entire arena it gradually slowed down to the point that it could be made out as the shape of a boy. As it neared the door a curved, neon looking object appeared over the door allowing the boy to glide safely down off the wall and toward the instructor. As the boy neared the instructor the crowd began to worry if he would stop in time. But lo and behold the boy stopped about two inches in front of him. As the dust settled the boy was revealed to be Ichigo Asano. As everyone in the crowd that was at the preliminaries had expected Asano's look had changed as well. Instead of the headband that he had worn over his eyes at first he wore a pair of jet black Divers goggles that seemed to have something etched into their lenses. Instead of a pair of pants, like his teammates, Asano wore a pair of neon orange cargo style shorts. On his feet he wore boots that resembled metal greaves but with rubber bottoms. The only thing that seemed familiar about his look was the straight jacket he wore as a shirt.

Somewhere in the crowd Aburame Shino was sitting with his teammate Kiba who had just recently said that the way these mysterious ninja's kept changing their looks was like they didn't want people to remember what they looked like. That is when an idea hit him and he had to excuse himself.

"Wow. You're lucky this is such a big place. If it was smaller I might have hit you. Ichigo Asano of Eternity reporting for the Chuunin exam. So, am I late?"

Simultaneously Asano's teammates blurted out, "Showoff." This didn't seem to bother Asano as he just kept on smiling.

The judge was astonished. It took him a few seconds to recover from the shock. In that time Hataki Kakashi sprung into action, to tell the Hokage what he had just realized.

"Tsunade. I realized where I had heard of those Ninjas before."

"Kakashi, you need to bring all your findings to Jiraiya. I put him in charge of the investigation."

"Alright, I will go find him." Kakashi left the Hokage's balcony to find someone. But that someone wasn't who the Hokage thought it would be.

A few moments later Rock Lee and Asano were standing in their positions to start their match, the first of the Chuunin Exam Main matches. The instructor was about to start the match when Asano said something. "Hey you in the jump suit. Why don't we cut the theatrics straight off?"

"I don't know what you mean." Lee was hoping that his opponent didn't know about his secret weapon already.

"I'll tell you what. We can cut the cheesy 'he gets beat up then reveals he's stronger later' part out of this match now. Take off your weights."

"Fine I will." Lee reached down to the bright orange leg warmers that hid his massively heavy weights and undid them. After he removed his weights he stood back up. "And now you take off your jacket and goggles. I think you'll have to take me seriously."

"If you insist, but the goggles stay, you're not quite ready to see that yet. _Vibrational Destruction._" With that command Asano's arms began to shake violently and after a few seconds the straight jacket began to puff up as if there was a violent storm inside it. After about a second of being in that condition the arms of the straight jacket exploded in a flurry of fabric. Beneath the flurry were Asano's arms; and on those arms were two Melody Arms. "Surprise."

**Sorry for the long wait. I was having some difficulties on some of the new looks and ways to describe them. If you have any comments please don't hesitate to tell me. I am very open to suggestions!!!!**


	13. Beast's Folly

Beast's Folly

"So should we start this, Green Beast of Konoha?" Asano extended one leg out and the other bent low to the ground shrinking him to a height around two feet high. Both of his arms hung limp at his sides, the Melody arms appeared like pendulums as they swayed, waiting to reveal their deadliness to the crowd.

Up in the balcony multiple people were having a discussion about those same implements of destruction. Gaara for once was the one who had started the conversation. "I have killed someone with one of those before. He was from a different village though."

"Which Village was it Gaara?" Hinata was surprised by her own action of talking to the Sand-nin as well as the fact that he was talking period.

"Yes Gaara-san. It could be very helpful to my investigation."

"Kakashi-sensei! Where did you come from?"

"You know here and there. I heard Gaara talking about that boy down there and thought I should pop in."

"I am sorry." Gaara performed a slight bow with his feet together and his arms at his sides as it was customary to do in the Sand Village when you had failed. "He died too quickly to be imprinted in my memory."

"He was from the Sound Village."

"Shikamaru! Where did you come from?" Hinata was starting to think that she was a horrible ninja with all these people sneaking up on her.

"The same place as Kakashi. Behind you." With Shikamaru's words Hinata was really worried. They were behind me this entire time and she didn't notice?

"Would you tell me all the details of this person?"

"Yes, Kakashi." Shikamaru and Kakashi walked down the stairs and Shikamaru could be heard muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like "troublesome people".

In the depths of the arena Rock Lee still appeared to have a look of astonishment on his face, but Asano didn't like him to stay that way so he tried a different tactic of goading on the Konoha-nin. Abandoning his earlier stance he stood up straight and addressed Lee in a calm sarcastic manner. "What's the matter? I ruined one of my favorite jackets and I don't even get to shame the Goken Taijutsu style? Well I guess that anyone who trains such a pathetic pupil would be just as pathetic himself."

"DO NOT INSULT GAI-SENSEI!!!!!!!" Naruto had never seen Fuzzy Brows so angry in the entire time he had known him. Rock Lee rushed toward his opponent with metaphorical fire in his eyes. Asano's plan had worked. Although Rock Lee swung his arms with the immense strength that his anger gave him, the blows were clumsy and Asano easily ducked or dodged each of them in succession.

The fight continued like this for a short time but up in the balcony Neji watched his teammate's fight with growing curiosity. "I've never seen anyone keep up with Lee's speed for so long like that. I bet he would be even faster without those heavy boots."

"Even so, those boots have a purpose. Everything Asano does has a purpose. Even those fruity shorts."

"What do you mean a purpose?"

"I'm sure it will become apparent soon enough. Just keep watching." Neji looked at Naota and his teammate, Barota, with extreme curiosity. No matter how many times he looked at them with his Byakugan Their Chakra points were never in the same place.

"This little hissy fit you're having is getting on my nerves." Neji quickly turned his attention back to the arena to view the developing fight. This new development would have to wait.

With one quick motion Asano deflected a particularly powerful punch from Rock Lee and rerouted that same arm into the stomach of the same person, sending Lee flying into the air. Feeling confident in his accomplishment Asano stopped the backward movement that had previously been a constant thing for him. That is when Rock Lee, who had recently started thinking again, saw his opening. For just a moment it looked like he had disappeared from his intended path of travel by teleportation, but in actuality he had just been moving extremely fast. Briefly Rock Lee was nowhere to be found but just as Asano looked down to investigate his opponent's whereabouts Lee appeared only feet above Asano's head, already executing a bicycle kick of the variety that he had delivered to the top of Gaara of the Desert's head in their match. But just before it connected Asano performed a standing back handspring that brought his legs up to the level that his head was formerly at. In other words instead of Rock Lee's foot colliding with Asano's stationary head he hit Asano's metal boot heading the opposite direction. Again Rock Lee went flying away from a conflict with Asano. Except this time instead of hitting air, he collided with a nearby wall.

Asano simply completed his flip and landed on the ground with hardly a sound. "Is this all that the great Konoha has to offer me?" Asano faced the wall that he had just kicked his opponent into and yet again taunted Rock Lee. "Come, Green Beast. Hit me if you can." As Asano completed his words what could have only been described as a line of dirt flew from Rock Lee's impact point and where the young Volcano-nin stood; or rather, where he had been standing.

Rock Lee had used the wall as a brace and shot himself forward screaming, "Konoha Senpu!" Lee sunk low to the ground and delivered a kick to the abdomen of Asano. Although Asano blocked this kick, the underlying purpose of it succeeded. Ichigo Asano was air-borne for the first time in the match because of Lee, but Lee needed him to go higher. "Not yet!" Rock Lee jumped up into the air and delivered another kick to the stomach of his opponent, again the kicks main force was stopped but Asano was driven higher into the air. Three more times Lee kicked. Each time it was blocked, and each time Asano rose higher. The only thing Lee did not like about this situation was that no matter how many times he kicked Asano each time there was a flickering smile on his face. Lee ignored this however and continued with the next phase of his technique.

"Kage Buyo!" Seemingly in mid-jump Rock Lee disappeared from the view of the audience once again. Less than a second later he reappeared underneath the air-borne Asano. Strips of cloth from Lee's arm wrappings flew out and firmly wrapped Asano in a cocoon of cloth. In the final step of Omote Renge the now confident Konoha-nin turned the pair of air travelers upside down and rocketed the pair down at a breakneck speed. A very deep and sinister laughter was heard escaping Asano's throat throughout the entire arena just before Rock Lee started spinning the pair as fast as he could. When the bundled Asano hit the ground the entire arena shook with the force of the blow. A battered Rock Lee rolled out of the dust cloud and slowly stood up. Despite his clothes being ripped in places and his overall disheveled appearance he looked happy, as if by performing that technique he had achieved his life's goal.

Up in the balcony there was much discussion on the events that had just transpired. The general consensus was that if anyone had to pick one of Lee's moves to hit they would want it to be that one. Hinata however was concerned at the general lack of worry that the other Volcano ninjas displayed for their teammate. Hinata decided to ask Naota about it. Neji had warned her to stay away from the other one. "Hey, you." Naota assumed she was talking to him and turned to face her. "Aren't you worried about your teammate?"

"Not especially. Should I be? He seems to be doing just fine."

Hinata began to wonder about Naota's sanity. "Lee just hit him with one of his best attacks."

"Did he now? Maybe you should pay better attention with those fancy eyes of yours." Hinata turned to the man who had just spoken. Aguuyh Barota looked directly at Hinata but something in his eyes told her that he was looking past her.

Wondering at his strange comment Hinata turned to the arena, and what she saw amazed her. By this time the dust cloud had mostly cleared and Hinata could clearly make out the shape of Ichigo Asano sort of levitating in the middle of a giant crater surrounded by rings of a fluorescent orange substance. The goggles that had been covering his eyes were now on the ground revealing the most shocking thing of all. Asano's eyes were one solid color, gold.

* * *

Author's Note: I just realized I never officially stated Kiba's condition. If you would like Kiba to survive his wound PM me and I will make it happen. Otherwise Kiba will not appear in this story anymore. A note to all my dog lovers. Either way Akamaru will live on. If you have anything to discuss but don't want to PM me, please post in my forum Asano of the Darkness. Thanks. 


	14. Asano of the Waves

Note: When the point of view switches to the people in the balcony there is a rewind in time. Also, I hope you forgive me for taking so long to continue with this, bare with me, the next chapter should be quicker.

Asano of the Waves

The glowing around Asano dispersed and he stepped down to earth. Rock Lee, still breathing heavily from the exertion of the Lotus, couldn't believe it. This boy had emerged from the Lotus completely unharmed. Not even Gaara had done that. Was this boy a demon too?

Rock Lee straightened up his body and slowed his breathing. He had to focus now. There must be some trick to his power. A Genjutsu like he used against Tenten? No this boy didn't seem like the type to repeat strategies in the same conflict. Could this be a clone? That would explain it. Yes, he could have gone away and replaced himself with this untouched copy. Rock Lee needed to believe that his technique had an effect. He had to show everyone that he could be strong. He needed to show everyone his way of the ninja.

"Asano. That's a neat parlor trick. What's next?"

"There is no trick. I am just above you. And now everyone will know that." Asano jumped into the air and performed a very smooth looking front flip. "Sound Quake!" As the flip finished Asano pounded his gauntlets into the ground and bounced back to his feet.

"That was pretty impressive but, what did it do?" Rock Lee was baffled. What had that show been for?

In the Balcony

Unlike Rock Lee, Hinata had time to think about what had just happened. The only people she had ever seen with solid eyes were her clan mates. Did this boy have a similar Bloodline Limit?

Hinata decided to ask Naota Asano's teammate but before she could ask him, the mysterious person spoke. "Yeah, Asano has a Kekki Genki. We all do. I guess that's why we were put on the same team." Naota looked up from the ground at Barota, who was looking intently down at the arena. "You probably already figured out what mine is."

"You can control shadows right?"

"Correct young lady. Well…" Naota looked like he was considering something. He scratched his chin in thought, and then he decided. "Yeah let's leave it there for now. As for everyone else, you'll have to figure theirs out." Hinata looked disappointed at this statement. "Alright I'll give you a hint at Asano's. He's already used it a couple times since he got here. That's all I'm saying."

"Don't let Korin hear you say stuff like that." Barota had talked. And even more surprising, it sounded like a joke. "She'll take your head off." By now Naota and Barota were hysterical.

"Umm… excuse me." Hinata still wasn't comfortable talking to these men. "Who is Korin?"

"The scariest chick you'll ever meet. Also she's Asano's wife… well, fiancé. It's complicated."

"Wait that kid is married? Didn't he say before that he was 10 years old? Isn't that like illegal?"

"Only in some countries. Besides, it wasn't really a consensual thing. There was a lot of alcohol involved."

"Isn't that more illegal?"

"Yeah, your point is? Besides, wow I use that word a lot around you guys, Asano basically spends most of his time trying to get rid of her."

"Remember what he did last time they were together?" Barota made a motion with his hands that made it seem like he was motioning to some corporeal form of the memory that he was talking about.

"Yeah, that was down right evil." Seeing the confused looks on everyone else's faces Naota decided to enlighten them. "Okay, you know how most guys avoid their girlfriends when they're on their periods? Well the last time we saw her, she was on her period and Asano thought it would be funny to stick her in a cage."

"What? That's all he did? How is that evil? It's mean, but not evil."

"I wasn't done yet." Naota took a break here to laugh very loudly. "The cage, was full of rabid male dogs that were in heat. And well we haven't seen her since."

"I take it back. That's evil."

"You have no idea. Asano amplified the sound waves so that he could listen to her scream 4 miles away." Naota turned to the arena and the figures that were below. "Your homeboy has no idea what he's getting himself into."

Barota walked over to the balcony to join Naota and patted him on the shoulder. "Dude, you did it again."

"What?" Naota had a confused look on his face. "What did I say? I did the thing…and then there was the…" Naota started to count things that he had said off on his hand. Meanwhile Hinata began to realize what Naota had said.

Asano amplified the sound? But how could he do that…unless. Hinata rushed over to the bar and yelled down to Rock Lee. Actually she tried to yell, but nothing came out. It was like somebody had hit the mute button on life.

"Oh…so that's what I said." Naota turned to Hinata and he tapped his head in a manner that usually insinuates a lack of intelligence in someone. "I'm guessing that by the look on your face you figured out Part A of Asano's bloodline limit. He can amplify and reduce sound waves. If that's the case, why did you think he would let you tell that kid down there that?"

Hinata was depressed that she would be unable to help her teammate. "So you said Part A. That implies that there is a part B. Am I right?"

"Very good little girl. Would you like a cookie?" Naota turned from the group and pulled what looked like a small cigarette out of his pocket. He knew that most people hated this particular habit of his, and he really liked it that way.

Naota was getting bored with the Konoha brats and it showed, so Barota decided to take over. "Yeah, there is. The Sound Quake is a Ninjutsu that combines two forces. One of which is the Earth. That part of the move is obvious. Giant columns of dirt and rock shoot out of the earth at random intervals that even Asano cannot control or predict. Then there is well you'll see in a few seconds. It always takes time for the right fault to be found." Barota turned in a similar fashion as Naota to the arena and continued speaking. "Actually, the fact that Asano is using this technique is a testament to how surprisingly skilled your friend is."

In the Arena

The ground beneath Rock Lee's feet began to shake slowly, but as he stood there the vibrations began to intensify. Eventually everyone in the stadium could, to some degree, feel the vibrations. As suddenly as they had started the vibrations ceased.

"Asano! What is with th…" Before Lee could finish his sentence a pillar of earth shot up out of the ground not an inch and a half from his face.

"Damn. That's the closest it's ever gotten on the first shot." By the time Asano spoke columns of earth were spewing from the ground and then back in all across the battle grounds. From above it looked like there were two tiny Kings battling for control of a chess board that was battling for control of them. Asano snapped his fingers as if he had another thought. "And now comes phase two." Giant orange and green swirls started spewing up and out of the cracks in the earth like magma from the caldera of a volcano.

Balcony

"What the hell?" Hinata remembered seeing something that looked very similar to those rings when Asano first arrived and then again when he emerged from the smoke of Lee's Lotus. "Is that it? Whatever those rings are; that is Asano's second part. Isn't it?"

"You're still aiming for that cookie aren't you? Yah, that's Asano's second. Asano is the only one that can hear the tiny noises that are emitted from the Earth at all times, and that's what those are; solidified sound waves." Naota paused to fully take in the residual gasp that echoed throughout the entire balcony. "We don't exactly know when, but sometime when Asano was very young, someone blinded him by pouring liquid gold on his eyes, and it triggered a genetic trait that had been latent in his clan. It gave Asano these abilities, at the price of his eyes. Now he sees through the sound that everything makes."

Neji had to admit that he wasn't expecting the boy's power to be that catastrophic. But that was not exactly what he was after. Neji was only worried about one thing, and that was the boy's unusual chakra. If Neji was to face him in the next round, that is, if Lee were to lose, which seemed more and more likely, Neji needed to know if it behaved like normal chakra. "Hey, what about the Black Chakra?"

"_So you did notice."_ Barota looked straight into the eyes of the Hyuuga. "Souls. That is all I will say, except, watch out any of you, if red runs down out of his eyes. And Naota, do us all a favor, and shut up."

"Fine, Mr. Asswipe. Look, we've already said more than we were probably supposed to. You'll just have to use your brains for the rest of it."


End file.
